The purchase of personal property, and specifically vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles and boats, is generally accomplished by the consumer financing the purchase through a personal loan system. In such a circumstance, the purchaser borrows money from a financial or lending institution, takes title to the vehicle and pays the loan balance in monthly installments, which amortize the full amount of the loan. The financial institution typically retains a lien interest against the title of the vehicle and the loan is secured by a chattel mortgage thereon. Thus, the vehicle is used as collateral for the loan. The financial institution may confiscate or repossess the vehicle upon a default condition of the loan, as agreed to by the purchaser or as provided at law. However, due to the mobile nature of a vehicle, it is often difficult for the financial institution to locate a vehicle for repossession. To make it even more difficult, when a purchaser of a vehicle knows he is in default of the loan, the purchaser will attempt to evade repossession of the vehicle by storing the vehicle in locations that are unbeknownst to the financial institution.
When a purchaser who is in default evades repossession of the vehicle, the repossession process can become quite costly for the financial or lending institution. Specifically, the financial or lending institution will have to hire a third party repossession agent and/or an investigative service agency to assist in locating and recovering the vehicle.
Devices have been designed and deployed to assist financial or lending institutions with the repossession of personal property such as vehicles. Most of these devices are electronic devices that are affixed to the vehicle to act as a homing beacon or GPS module. Thus, whenever vehicle repossession is deemed necessary, the homing device can be activated or the GPS module used to determine a present location of the collateral. However, this methodology is expensive and completely ineffective if, for instance, the purchaser of the vehicle removes or disables the device.
Furthermore, when a purchaser of a vehicle knows at the time of purchase that he will likely be unable to make the monthly payments, the purchaser may make the purchase fraudulently. Specifically, the purchaser may provide the financial or lending institution with an incorrect personal address in order to further evade repossession of the vehicle upon default.
Thus, a need exists for a system, method and/or apparatus to assist the financial or lending institution in locating a vehicle for repossession after the vehicle owner defaults on the loan payments. Furthermore, a need also exists for a system, method and/or apparatus to assist with fraud prevention in the purchase and sale of personal property such as vehicles.